Trusted Technology Partnership Ltd collaborated with a leading NHS organisation to execute a large-scale data migration project. The project migrated the data of approximately 10,000 users and 140 shared storage locations for GP practices, to a secure cloud-based environment. Trusted Technology utilised expertise in project management, enhanced data security, application management, supported by in house developed purpose-built software.  

The organisation serves a population of 1.9 million people. They employ approximately 77,500 NHS and Social Care Staff across a range of hospitals, GP practices and other primary care networks. As a busy, public-sector, Healthcare organisation, the organisation required its data migration project to be cost effective, secure, and streamlined.  

The NHS organisation faced challenges from an ageing on-premises server estate, including compromised productivity, increased security risks as equipment reached end of mainstream support, and the prospect of the high cost of replacement.  

These challenges, combined with availability concerns meant that there was a risk to the GP Practices clinical processes if server hardware failed or performance was degraded. This could result in potential data loss and cause severe interruption to staff working processes and therefore impact patient services. Further, the restrictions of having data stored on-premises provided extra challenges for mobile or hybrid working.  

Moving to a cloud-based solution was the proposed strategy to address the identified issues as well as improving business continuity and increasing security. Shared data would be moved away from GP Practice-based services and into the NHS N365 Shared Tenant. 

The NHS organisation chose to partner with Trusted Technology due to their 25 years of experience in providing technology solutions and support for the Healthcare industry with proven success in managing complex projects. 

The project was split into three separate stages: 

• data migration 

• application relocation 

• server decommissioning.  

The solution was to move all data files and documents to a secure cloud-based storage solution. End users would have their own personal OneDrive. Shared data files and documents would be saved on SharePoint, where they can be collaboratively worked on and accessible securely.  

To assist with the substantial amounts of data that needed to be relocated, Trusted Technology Partnership’s in-house software team developed a web-based portal to simplify and streamline the process, the Project Guidance Portal (PGP).  

PGP is a custom-built intranet-based web application which supports role-based access, to suit specific end user requirements throughout the migration. PGP provided a central location to manage the migration process and guide practices through the entire journey.  
The portal breaks the project down into manageable stages. Each stage has multiple time bound tasks that must be completed and approved by a designated senior member of the practice (a ‘Practice Champion’). The portal offers: 

• built-in reporting 

• deadline tracking 

• direct data imports and exports  

• secure integrated user authentication 

• automates the management of data 

 Functionality within PGP provided both the customer and the project team with an improved and efficient experience when compared to timely direct communication and manual administration. 

• Adoption of MS 365 supports mobilisation and hence remote working 

• Improved security with multi-factor authentication, meeting NHS standards 

• Reduced risk of Data Loss by adopting resilient Cloud platform  

• Business Continuity – higher availability of data and improved disaster recovery 

• Enhanced communication and collaboration 

• Increased staff productivity 

Shared data was moved away from GP Practice-based services and into the NHS N365 Shared Tenant. Personal and shared files could now be accessed anywhere at any time, enabling secure remote working and business continuity.  

Early adopters who completed this process were asked to complete a satisfaction survey: 

• 95% of people agreed that the projects team communicated well or extremely well in preparation for their migration.  

• 91% of people understood the project objectives well or extremely well. 

• 82% of participants found their training useful. 

• 95% of people agreed the N365 Data Migration Portal (PGP) streamlined their migration journey.  

• 4.5/5-star rating when asked how successful their migration was.